Editorial: Jones would bring independence to state AG’s office

In the campaign for California attorney general, there are two qualified candidates: the appointed incumbent, Xavier Becerra and current state insurance commissioner, Dave Jones.

Both are liberal Democrats and both are committed to defending the state against what many Californians believe are attacks from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.

Since both vow to fend off Trumpian overreach into California affairs, the question voters should ask themselves is which one will do this while effectively carrying out, and not politicizing, the many other duties of the office?

Based on their records, and qualifications, we believe the choice should be Jones. Both top candidates, however, will probably face off again in November, since the June 5 primary is a Top Two election.

As insurance commissioner since 2010, the former special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and state assemblyman has aggressively protected consumers against fraud, while dealing fairly with the industry he was elected to oversee. Jones also has successfully pushed needed legislation to protect policyholders reeling from recent natural disasters.

He also has declared in his campaign that he will defend the state, and the will of voters, even if he disagrees with their position — which he has vowed to do in upholding voters’ decision to maintain the death penalty, a punishment he personally opposes because of erroneous convictions.

He also promises to fight against what Jones describes as the Trump administration’s “encroachment on California values.”

That puts him at odds with the two Republicans in the race: Retired El Dorado County Judge Steven Bailey, who is under investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for what he says are “partisan” misconduct charges; and Los Angeles private lawyer Eric Early, who has little experience in law enforcement. Both Republicans unsurprisingly side with Trump and say they won’t challenge in court his administration’s forays into California policies.

There’s little doubt either Republican reflects the will of liberal Democratic voters who have dominated recent elections.

Attorney General Becerra, a former congressman, was appointed to office by Gov. Jerry Brown to serve the remainder of Kamala Harris’ term after she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

From the outset, Becerra has concentrated on challenging the Trump administration; he’s filed 31 lawsuits as of this writing against the administration.

But Becerra, a former congressman, has overtly and overly politicized too many other issues.

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For instance, he delayed implementation of a statewide database meant to curtail opioid abuse — while he was harvesting $70,000 in campaign contributions from the medical industry and doctors who were resisting the prescription program.

He also stopped representing Brown’s state Supreme Court challenge to the state’s public employee pension vesting rules. He hasn’t explained why, but it’s not hard to figure out he didn’t want to buck the public employee labor unions whose financial support often proves crucial for Democrats in California.

When, as required by law, he wrote the summaries for the initiative that would reverse the state’s gas tax increase, which is likely to be on the November ballot, Becerra dropped all impartiality when he decreed the wording not mention the measure would repeal “taxes and fees.” Instead, he wrote it would “repeal revenues” for road repairs and transportation projects.

The attorney general is the state’s top law enforcement official, its chief counsel and consumer advocate, as well as overseeing 4,500 employees. In that light, Becerra has won a national name for himself in aggressively fighting the Trump administration, but we like how Jones has aggressively and successfully run a state agency.

And while the office is not nonpartisan, Jones also seems to understand the attorney general needs to stake out a position of political independence, while overseeing the many duties of the job, which include, but are not exclusive to, defending California against federal overreach. And that makes Dave Jones the better choice among two qualified candidates.